Huh? (UPDATE)

As other Republicans wrung their hands, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott cast the health care ruling as a victory — all except the part in which the law was upheld.

Here’s his statement. I’ll have more later from his conference call:

“This is an historic victory for individual liberty, states’ rights, and limited government. Today the Supreme Court made crystal clear that the federal government is more restrained than yesterday and yet, through a novel application of the facts, the Court did what Congress was afraid to do–called ObamaCare a tax on all Americans. This is particularly ironic since President Obama, himself, insisted this was not a tax.

“The decision marks a turning point in constitutional history. The Supreme Court rebuked a runaway federal government that tried to hijack the Constitution by imposing an unprecedented requirement forcing Americans to buy a product against their will. In doing so, the Court dismantled the centerpiece of ObamaCare—the federal government’s authority to compel Americans to purchase a product.

“The Court also agreed that States are individual sovereigns that cannot be commandeered by the federal government. In this instance, by forcing States to expand Medicaid, the federal government tried to hold States hostage.

“Our challenge to ObamaCare was never about healthcare or insurance – it was about the rule of law and a fight against a federal government that continues to expand. In this respect, today’s decision was a total victory. As the federal government seeks to impose the remainder of ObamaCare, it must do so within the limits prescribed by the Constitution.

“Although the individual mandate was ruled unconstitutional, the remainder of ObamaCare may be on life support—and we will continue our work to pull the plug on this unworkable and unpopular law. It is time for Congress to step in and end the ObamaCare nightmare by repealing an unprecedented tax on all Americans.”

UPDATE: Abbott’s office issued an updated statement that toned down the victory language. Here it is:

WASHINGTON, D.C.–Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott released the following statement regarding the ruling today from the Supreme Court on President Obama’s federal health care reform law:

While today’s ruling rebuked an overreaching federal government, the Supreme Court nonetheless upheld the insurance requirement by calling it a tax. The Supreme Court made crystal clear that the federal government is more restrained today than yesterday. Relying on a novel application of the facts, the Court did what Congress was afraid to do–called ObamaCare a tax on all Americans. This is particularly ironic since President Obama, himself, insisted this was not a tax.
The Court also agreed that States are individual sovereigns that cannot be commandeered by the federal government. In this instance, by forcing States to expand Medicaid, the federal government tried to hold States hostage.

Our challenge to ObamaCare was never about healthcare or insurance – it was about the rule of law and a fight against a federal government that continues to expand. As the federal government seeks to impose the remainder of ObamaCare, it must do so within the limits prescribed by the Constitution.

Although the individual mandate was found to exceed Congress’ authority to regulate commerce, the Court allowed ObamaCare to stay intact by ruling that the mandate is a tax. We will continue our work to fight this unworkable and unpopular law. It is time for Congress to step in and end the ObamaCare nightmare by repealing this unprecedented tax on all Americans.

UPDATE: Abbott said in a conference call with reporters that. “it’s fair to say that despite the outcome of this case, the federal government is more restrained than it was yesterday.”

“Our legal challenge to Obamacare was never about either health care or health insurance. Instead it was about the rule of law and what we consider to be an unprecedented expansion of federal authority and in that regard it was a victory even thought the ultimate outcome was not what we wanted,” Abbott said.

Regarding the state’s next steps, including whether it must set up a health insurance exchange, Abbott said, “There are going to be multiple uncertainties spawned by today’s decision. That will be one of them that will have to be hammered out by the state in the coming weeks and months.

“It is still unclear about the necessity of those exchanges and so that’ll be something that I will be visiting with HHSC and the governor’s office and others to see what precisely is going to be required.

“The other issue is going to be a policy decision by the state, and that is whether or not the state wants to expand the Medicaid system as would be allowed by this law but now is no longer required by this law.”

He said “that’ll be a policy decision for the policymakers in Austin to make.”

Abbott like other Republicans joined in the call for repeal: “Here is the reality. A new tax was imposed on Americans across the state and country today. It’s a tax that Congress did not step up and specifically say that they are going to put on people but the United States Supreme Court said was imposed on people today. I am against this tax and I will work with the state of Texas and members of Congress to repeal this unprecedented tax imposed on Texas.”

Abbott also held out the possibility of additional litigation: “We will explore all options about other possible avenues for litigation that will continue to try to legally dismantle Obamacare. What those are right now I can’t say but I can say that our lawyers are beginning to look at that as we speak.” Asked to elaborate, he said, “We don’t want to do ready, fire, aim. Let us look at it, analyze it, before we start discussing what possible future legal actions could be lodged.”

Asked about Chief Justice Roberts’ role in the decision, Abbott said, “I think one take away from today’s decision is, one, there is a core conservative part of the United States Supreme Court that now includes Kennedy. I think myself and many others went into this decision today thinking that Kennedy was going to be the decisive vote. It turned out that Chief Justice Roberts was the decisive swing vote.

“And if you were to go back and look at Justice Kennedy’s opinion criticizing Chief Justice Roberts’ opinion, you would see that it looks as though chief Justice Roberts may have seemingly engaged in some judicial activism as opposed to strict construction in order to reach a result – quite literally reaching to uphold the validity of the law.”